American
Borders: A Solo Circumnavigation of the United States on a Russian Sidecar
Motorcycleby Carla King
Paperback from Motorcycle MisadventuresPublished: 2008-04-01ISBN: 0964644517Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
An exploration of the borders between the United States, Canada, and
Mexico becomes a comedy of breakdowns in small towns all around America
in this four-month, ten-thousand mile adventure. Experience moments of
blissful backroads freedom, cultural connection, and roadside romance--interrupted
by cracked welds, electrical gremlins, evil tow truck drivers, tornadoes,
and hurricanes. From B.C. to the Blue Ridge, Boquillias to Beverly Hills,
American Borders is a unique and intimate exploration of the United States
and its neighbors.

The
Sidecar Kingsby Jon Burcaw
Paperback from Outskirts PressISBN: 1432771914Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
The Sidecar KingsBy Jon BurcawLife is filled with challenges. You can let them overtake you or
you can get ready for the next cool thing to happen. The choice is yours.Award-winning writer Jon Burcaw, in this, his first book, brings together
the unique worlds of wheelchairs and motorcycles. He draws on his own life
experiences as an avid motorcycle enthusiast and father of a profoundly
disabled child to weave an inspirational tale for young adults.
Eight-year-old TJ, a wheelchair-bound boy, anxiously waits to take
the ride of his life in a very special machine during his first Muscular
Dystrophy Association (MDA) summer camp experience. Befriended by a
seasoned group of boys at the camp, all with similar disabilities, TJ learns
about the amazing trip that lies ahead of him.
But a dangerous storm threatens to ruin the day. Unknown to him, an
intrepid group of motorcycle riders responsible for making the special
ride happen, are caught in the same storm. As the camp prepares for the
worst, the riders soldier on against all odds.
Through great storytelling and clear imagery, this book challenges
commonly held stereotypes of bikers and the handicapped as well. At the
conclusion of the book is a list Questions to Ponder that will provide
group discussion opportunities.
A 1983 graduate of Moravian College, Burcaw published his first piece
in the MDA'sQuest magazine in 2008. It earned the 2009
Communicator Award of Distinction presented by the International
Academy of the Visual Arts.A fundraising champion for the Muscular Dystrophy Association,
Burcaw has raised over $120,000 for the cause since 2001. He is pledging
a portion of the proceeds of each book to MDA research. He resides in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

Notes from a Sidecar is a travelogue of the mind and of the geography
of the Kootenay area of British Columbia and then onto Northern Washington
and a part of Northern Idaho in the United States. The author travels in
his Kawasaki Vulcan sidecar rig, at times with his wife, and often with
his dog "lady". Interspersed with the motorcycle riding are comments on
the role of philosophy in modern life. John Dale is not a professional
philosopher but has spent his adult life reading and thinking about philosophy
in between a career as a physician and pilot. Influenced at an early age
by Wittgenstein the trend in his thoughts has been towards the non-verbal
and underlying principles that we live by.
Dale shows how we make decisions in our everyday life using unconscious
and culturally derived assumptions. Wittgenstein remains largely the starting
point in this book, although many precursors to his line of thought are
pointed out in an attempt to move beyond the "silent" areas. The roles
of doubt, uncertainty and vagueness, are examined in detail to illustrate
how we do make decisions, and that in spite of these concepts, we make
most of the time accurate decisions. But the importance of acknowledging
the degree of uncertainty does not seem apparent. The illusion of certainty
is examined as a critical concept so that we may be more at ease with less
certainty. The role of language is brought in as the critical factor in
the artificiality of the nature of certainty.
In the book we are taken through the influence of aesthetics and ethics
and politics on each other. Certain novel ideas about differing forms of
knowledge are introduced and the germinal ideas of Suzanne Langer are touched
upon.